Popcorn
by Sadie Beryl
Summary: What do you get when you cross large men, small boys, and huge quantities of popcorn?    You get better people - here's how...


"I love my job. I love my job," the man kept mumbling over and over again as if the sheer quantity of his utterances would change his attitude about the upcoming meeting. He was busily gathering papers that had been scattered across the desk into a large legal size manila folder. "I love my job". The man in question certainly didn't look like your usual pencil-pushing executive despite the posh surroundings. The office of the owner of RangeMan LLC was nothing if not luxurious but the gentleman who clearly resided there looked more like he should be outside in the field rather than sitting behind a desk.

Ranger Manoso, a tall, well-built Cuban-American, owner and founder of RangeMan LLC was preparing for yet another meeting with an extremely meticulous client or future-client if Ranger had his way. This would be the fifth meeting with Owen Meter and his son and protégé Leon. Ranger wasn't sure what more he could add to this negotiations but this account would be both profitable and long-lasting if he could get both the Meters to sign on the bottom line.

The meeting was scheduled in 15 minutes and for this gathering Tank had suggested it be held in the conference room on the fifth floor. It was rare that these meetings were done up here. The conference rooms on the second floor were much nicer but Tank felt that this room being just down the hall from the control room and across from the cubes the guys occupied would make a good impression.

Ranger stood and rolled down his sleeves, buttoning them at his wrists. He then took his suit jacket from the back of his desk chair and put it on. As he was adjusting his coat, Tank walked in carrying another large overstuffed manila folder.

"They just arrived. Ready?" Tank asked.

"Yeah, let's roll." Ranger responded.

Tank stepped aside and let his boss and best friend lead the way.

Ranger walked down the hall where all the offices were and turned the corner into the large open area that contained the cubes and the glass front of the control room. Everything looked neat and orderly. Ranger was sure that Tank had done a walk-through and whipped everyone and everything into shape in preparation for the arrival of the Meters.

Ranger was pleased that the atmosphere and his men looked professional. He met Ella as she was coming out of the conference room. Ella had been recruited to meet the Meters in the lobby of the building on the first floor and escort them upstairs. The two exchanged brief smiles as they passed and Ella returned to the first floor. Ranger took a deep and calming breath, pasted on a confident smile, and stepped into the room.

"Owen, good to see you again", Ranger said as he and Tank entered. Tank closed the door and the meeting began.

Outside the conference room Lester walked past Aubrey's file room on his way to the break room to fill his 32 oz RangeMan insulated coffee mug in anticipation of his 8-hour shift in the control room watching the monitors. Lester smiled at Aubrey and thought again that she was definitely a welcome addition to the crew around here. Besides the fact that she was easy on the eyes she was a miracle worker organizing all the boxes of case files from the small security business RangeMan had purchased in Chatham. All that even though she was part-time while attending Trenton State.

Lester filled his cup with coffee and grabbed a large bag of granola and proceeded to the control room, relieving Manuel. Settling in he asked for the status report from Cody and aside from Ella manning the front desk there was nothing unusual going on in the RangeMan world.

In the lobby on the first floor, Ella was also settling in. The large open space was tastefully decorated with couches and tables complete with large ornate coffee table books that Ella doubted anyone had ever looked at. She grabbed one of the books that looked interesting and walked over to the desk. The desk was curved polished wood with a phone and intercom on a console that had more buttons than she knew what to do with. The reception area was usually left unmanned except when clients were expected. There really wasn't any need to have a receptionist full-time as RangeMan was the only occupant of the building and the elevators would not work unless the boys in the control room authorized it. The doors were usually locked. She would stay there until the clients Ranger was meeting with left then lock the door and go back upstairs.

About 15 minutes later, the front door opened startling Ella. She looked up and over the desk to see a woman and 2 small boys enter. The woman looked hesitant as did the boys that Ella figured couldn't be more than 10 and were obviously brothers. Each was dressed in what had to be second hand uniforms and Ella was instantly enamored with the boys.

"May I help you?" Ella said.

The woman nudged the two boys towards the desk then bent slowly to them and whispered, "Now".

The boys looked up at Ella and began a speech that they had obviously rehearsed but not quite memorized.

The taller boy who couldn't have been more than a year older than the smaller one took a breath and began. "We are Boy Scouts from Troop 170 and we are selling, um,"

The older boy paused mentally looking for the next line from his speech and not finding it, the smaller boy piped up, "Popcorn".

The older boy, now having remembered the next line said, "Yeah, popcorn, we are selling popcorn as a fundraiser for summer camp."

Before Ella could respond, the woman, who seemed to be their mother, said with a question in her voice, "We're from St. Beatrice's church," turning and indicating the large cream colored church down the block on the other side of the street, "and Father Ezra said that he knew of a man here named Tank who used to be a scout?"

Ella was surprised at this. Ella knew Father Ezra and knew that he was aware of what RangeMan did. It was known the kinds of men that RangeMan employed and if Tank had been a scout it definitely was not a Boy Scout.

Up in the control room Lester slowly leaned forward to one of the monitors, setting his coffee mug down. "Hey Cody, look at this."

Cody turned from the monitor he was watching to look at the feed from the camera in the reception area.

Ella said, "Yes there is a man here named Tank." deliberately avoiding the topic of his being a scout. Then addressing the boys in front of her, she said in her best grandmother way, "So, you're selling popcorn, huh? What kind do you have?"

The smaller boy took that as an invitation from the nice lady to walk behind the desk and set his order blank in front of Ella. The taller boy and the woman moved forward and stopped in front of the desk.

"We have caramel and chocolate and cheese and butter and if we get $100.00 in orders we get to hit Father Ezra with a whip cream pie and then we get to go to camp." The boy said with all the excitement of youth.

The woman corrected the boy, "Raul, we have to see if we raise enough for camp."

The boy seemed undeterred by his mother's gentle warning and continued, "and they have horses and canoes and smores and it's in Pennsylvania and it has archery and it is fun and… and."

Again Raul's mother interjected, "Raul, that's next summer. We'll have to see." Her voice was a bit despondent filled with a dread of perhaps telling the excited Raul that if they didn't raise enough money camp may not be in his future.

Ella turned to the woman, "Do the boys all go to camp?"

Trying not to reveal reality in front of her sons, she quietly responded, "Well, we have to see how much we raise with the popcorn and then we send as many as we can."

Ella's heart melted. She remembered how tight money was when her hijos were young. Camp is just what boys needed. She asked the other boy, "What is your name, dear?"

The other boy, surprised to be addressed, said, "Pedro".

"How many in your troop, sweetie?"

"Umm," then counting on his fingers several times, said, "Fifteen."

Suddenly Ella became business-like and addressed the mother. "Dear, what is your name?"

"Her name is Wendy. She's my mom. Umm, I mean our mom" Raul said proudly.

"And, when does the popcorn come in?"

"Umm, actually it's in the church basement. St. Beatrice's is the local warehouse so we get first pick. We can carry over what you order this afternoon." was Wendy's response.

Pedro piped up, "I'd walk over with your order personally."

"Good. Let's go." Ella said.

By now more of the guys on the fifth floor had gathered around the monitors in the control room watching Ella, Wendy and the two boys.

"Anybody know them?" Lester asked.

"Anybody what to confess anything?" Bobby asked.

No, the consensus was that no one knew who they were but then fell silent as Ella herded the lot of them towards the elevator.

Zero checked the elevator controls and announced that Ella had hit the call button. Everyone watched as the four of them got into the elevator and then he announced that the fifth floor button had been pushed.

As the elevator rose, Ella turned to the little group, "Upstairs are Tank's friends and they love popcorn."

Raul turned to Ella and eagerly said, "Do you think they will buy a lot?"

Raul's mother quickly admonished the small boy. But Ella emphatically stated, "Yes."

Knowing that the elevator would be arriving any second the guys hustled out of the control room and scattered back to their cubes. But instead of sitting down at their desks, they stood in small groups watching over the adjoining walls to the elevator doors.

The doors opened and Ella walked out followed by the small group. Standing at the edge of the carpet that demarked the office area she quietly surveyed the faces. Noticing that the conference room door was still closed, she waved over Bobby who, like the others, had been watching. She knew better than to troop strangers through the offices. She knew these were good men but the guys were ever vigilant for intruders. Bobby walked over and strategically stood between Ella and the offices.

Ella began, "Father Ezra from St. Beatrice's sent these boys here. They are raising money for their Boy Scout troop by selling popcorn to go to camp."

The older woman had picked Bobby specifically as she knew he was a big softie when it came to kids. On more than one occasion Ella mused that one day Bobby would make an outstanding father. Bobby's heart melted and he stepped aside to let Ella continue her speech to the rest of the floor. "As I was saying, these boys assure me that the popcorn is delicious and I know that Ranger would not mind that you-all had it in the offices."

"Ella?" Bobby asked.

As Ranger's aunt and a woman on a mission, Ella would "go to the mat" for these scouts. She would not let Ranger scare her. The men would buy a lot more popcorn without the fear of Ranger and his 'health food' rule.

Nobody moved. Everyone just looked at each other. Then from the back of the office, small footsteps were heard moving towards the scouts. Aubrey moved through the men and across to the boys. "Now, where is that order form? We can lay it out on this table for everyone to see."

Aubrey set the document out and began studying it. Grabbing a pen she marked several of the columns and then looked up. Bobby was the next to move followed closely Lester and soon every man in the office was over; marking the order form and debating the relative merits of chocolate over caramel. Several of the men went over to talk to the two boys; relating their experiences in scouts and asking what the boys were working on. Raul was in his glory, animatedly answering the men's questions. Even Pedro offered up some answers smiling widely.

By the time the crowd thinned, the entire order form was full with another sheet of paper started with additional orders. Ella couldn't have been more pleased. These were good men and they showed what they were made of here. Ella was reminded of a saying she'd heard from her sister: 'Little boys grow up to be good men when good men care for little boys."

Ella retrieved the order sheets and walked back to Wendy and her sons. She handed the order forms to the mother whose eyes bugged out at the vast quantity of popcorn this group of, frankly, scary men had ordered. She did a quick mental calculation and saw that there was more than $1,500.00 worth of popcorn marked – enough to send half of the troop to camp. Keeping the grateful tears in check, in a quavering voice, she said, "Thank you. All of you."

Trying to preserve the woman's dignity, Ella corralled her and the two boys and guided them back to the elevators.

Back on the first floor, Wendy had found her voice. "This is astonishing! Look at the orders." Turning to Ella, "Thank you. You have no idea what this will mean to our little troop." Wendy hugged Ella whose eyes glistened.

"No problem, Dear."

Pedro spoke up. "Mom, we have to get this back to show Father Ezra." Turning to Ella, he said, "We can get the popcorn back to you after lunch!"

"No hurry, Pedro, but remember to bring it here personally. All three of you."

"We will", both Raul and Pedro answered simultaneously.

The heat in the conference room was approaching triple digits or so Ranger believed. This was yet another meeting were even the smallest detail was scrutinized. Leon Meter was relentless, 'How does this work?, 'What is the coverage of that?', 'What is the response time of whatever?." His constant questioning made Ranger wish for his days in the military when he could issue an order and be done with it all (or shoot someone).

Tank sensed Ranger's unease and knew something had to give. Looking at his watch, he took it upon himself to suggest that they break for lunch.

Unaware of the amount of time that had passed, Owen Meter, too, looked at his watch and seconded the suggestion. "We can pick up from here at, say, two?"

Tank saw Ranger visibly relax and stood, "Two is fine." Tank pressed a small button on the conference room phone for the control room.

"Control," came the response from Lester.

"Les, we need an escort for the Meters,"

"No problem. I'll be right there."

Owen Meter stood up slowly and extended his hand to Ranger. "Thank you for your patience."

"Father, we just need to have this done right. We've made some progress this morning", Leon said.

Fortunately for Leon he missed Ranger's reaction to his statement. The look on Ranger's face was only there for a nano-second but Tank saw the tired frustration before Ranger plastered a smile on.

"We have made progress. " Ranger forced out.

Just then there was a knock on the door and Lester came in and stood at parade rest.

Tank gestured to father and son to proceed out the door and the small group moved past the cubicles and control room to stand in front of the elevators.

The four men exchanged handshakes and plans were made to reconvene at 2pm back in the same conference room. When the elevator arrived the Meters along with Lester boarded and Tank and Ranger watched as the doors shut.

Like a balloon suddenly opened up, Ranger's shoulders sagged while he reached to loosen his tie. He turned to Tank and said, "I don't know how much more of this I can take."

With his ever-present smile, Tank clapped his friend on the shoulder and said, "Patience, my friend. Let's get something to eat in the break room before round 2."

It seemed such a short time before Tank's phone chirped letting him know the Meters had arrived. Ranger looked at his watch – two o'clock on the nose.

Tank dispatched Lester to play escort again while he and Ranger put on their game faces.

Standing again just outside the elevators on 5, Tank and Ranger waited for their guests to arrive.

When the elevator dinged and the doors opened, greetings were made and the four men withdrew back into the conference room shutting the door.

Ella was again seated in the reception area holding down lobby duty.

About 45 minutes after the Meters arrived a large group of people entered the lobby. Ella looked up and immediately recognized the gait and infectious smile of little Raul dashing over to her reception desk.

"We've got all the popcorn; all of it. There was so much the whole troop had to come with – well except Jaime, he's sick and is throwing up all over the place – al least his mom said so. I believe her and all and then…." Mercifully Raul's mother came over and gently placed her hand over her animated son's mouth. Raul quieted in what appeared to be a practiced ritual. Removing her hand, Wendy calmly said, "We've got all the popcorn for the men."

Ella glanced over at the rest of the large group of mostly boys and noticed all of them held multiple boxes and decorated cans. A man emerged from the group moving towards Ella. He was wearing a scout shirt like most of the boys and a clerical collar. "Hello, I'm Father Ezra and I'm the Scoutmaster for Troop 170."

Ella responded, "Nice to meet you, Father. Quite a bunch you have here."

Father Ezra smiled affectionately at the boys, "They are; aren't they." Turning back to Ella he said, "The orders were most generous and we did have all the units in the basement of the church. How should we do the delivery and payments?"

"Well, let's get all the packages in here and get them up to the fifth floor."

Again, on the fifth floor there was a crowd around the monitors. And word spread fast that the Boy Scout popcorn was here.

This time when the elevator dinged two doors opened simultaneously. Out poured boys and popcorn both in vast quantities.

Father Ezra efficiently organized everything with a practiced hand. He announced a man's name and then had the boys find and group the many cans and boxes. Wendy acted as treasurer having remembered to bring along a lot of change.

One by one the guys came up paid for the popcorn, thanked the scouts, and shook the Father's hand.

Despite everyone's best efforts to stay quiet the combination of small boys, large men, and massive quantities of popcorn eventually led to what could best be described as a dull roar.

And as dull roars are wont to do the sound increased and drifted into the over-heated conference room where Ranger, Tank and both Meters were standing straining over blueprints.

In a tightly controlled voice, Ranger said, "Really, Owen, the response time you require is not impossible, you'll just have to trust us….."

But before another word was spoken the aforementioned roar broke through to the clutch of men in the conference room bringing all conversation to a halt. All four men froze for a half a second before both Tank and Ranger dove for the door.

The scene they witnessed as they stepped out of the conference room was just about enough to make Ranger's blood pressure skyrocket. The nucleus of the commotion seemed to be over by the elevators and it only took a couple strides of his long legs to get him there.

With the last remaining shreds of his control, Ranger didn't quite scream, "What is going on here?"

Silence fell so hard around the group it practically dented the floor.

Tank was next. Surveying the collection of his men, small boys, and what was that – popcorn? "Explain!"

Again there was silence from everyone and without anyone noticing Owen and Leon Meter stepped quietly out of the conference room.

Ella stepped out of the forest of people. "Father Ezra from St. Beatrice's sent these boys here. They are raising money for their Boy Scout troop by selling popcorn to go to camp."

Looking down at the small but determined woman in front of him, Ranger was momentarily stunned. This was his aunt, that man to his left looked like a Catholic priest, and there were children present.

The priest stepped forward, bravely, addressing the man who was clearly the boss and who was clearly annoyed.

"Hello, Sir," extending his hand to Ranger. Ranger shook the man's hand admiring his courage.

"My name is Father Ezra and I want to tell you what your men have done for our little troop. Their generosity in ordering so much popcorn will allow us to do so much for the boys here."

Raul darted out of the crowd and right up to Ranger. "We get to go to camp this summer!"

Father Ezra smiled down at the very excited little boy and gently said."Raul, we'll see". Turning back to Ranger, he said, "I can't thank you enough, really."

Tank strategically came up behind Ranger and patted him on the back in an attempt to rein in his best friend's blood pressure and then he gracefully intervened. Knowing full well Ranger couldn't make the exception for "unhealthy" food in front of the men, Tank said, "I heard Boy Scout popcorn is quite healthy. I hope you have some that I can order."

And with that the chill in the room broke and the happy group resumed their enjoyment of the popcorn.

Given the day he'd already had Ranger really didn't mind the turn of events. The day had been exhausting and it wasn't even 3.

He turned back to Father Ezra sensing something in his words to the little boy. Quietly he asked the priest, "I take it that there's not enough yet to send the boys to camp."

"Well, there certainly is enough to send the older boys. The older boys, we're at more risk of losing them to the streets. You understand, I'm sure."

Yes, Ranger understood too well.

"How much more do you need to send them all?"

"About $2,000".

Ranger disappeared down the hall to his office. He returned a few moments later and handed a check to the priest.

"Thank you, Thank you so much. This will mean the world to them."

"If you need more, call me. Here's my card." Ranger handed over his business card to the Father.

Around him, Ranger saw his men enjoying the popcorn and the interaction with the young boys and remembered something his mother had said to him years ago - 'Little boys grow up to be good men when good men care for little boys."

The celebration began to die down and the troop of boys made their way to the elevators.

In the ensuing quiet someone tapped Ranger on the shoulder. He turned around and found Owen and Leon Meter standing quietly there.

"Owen, Leon, I am so sorry about all this."

The elder Meter held his hand up and silenced Ranger. He held out a thick packet of paper that Ranger recognized as the client agreement for Meter Electronics. It was signed and dated by both Meters.

"Owen, ummm," It was a rare moment that Ranger was at a loss for words. "We hadn't agreed to response times yet."

Strategically ignoring Ranger's question Owen Meter surveyed the remnants of the popcorn and the echoes of glorious youth. Turning to the tall Cuban man, he said, "You had quite a group of scouts here."

"They are a small troop run out of a local church. It was the least we could do. You never know what a little help can do for a boy."

Leon and Owen smiled knowingly. Leon pointed to his father, "Eagle Scout, class of 1957."

Owen in turn pointed to his son, "Eagle Scout, class of 1992"

The two Meters made their way to the elevators, waved and left.

THE END


End file.
